# Chapter 2. Introduction

"640kB ought to be enough for everybody" (The CEO of a big software company, at the beginning of the 80s...)

Since the beginning of UNIX development, there has been one great problem: There were stable kernels, and good, powerful software. Unfortunately, only a few people could use UNIX, because it was written mainly for those students and professionals who had studied the system for a long time. For example, the standard method for reading USENET news was

     find /var/spool/news -name '[0-9]*' -exec cat {} \;|more

This problem has been solved. Today, there are many good frontends available, like tin and knews, which provide easy-to-use, intuitive graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Unfortunately, the GUIs lack a common "look-and-feel". Commercial libraries for programmers like Motif promised a solution to this, but these libraries remain far too expensive and far too slow.

The configuration of programs is also often difficult. While compiling is usually done with

     ./configure && make && make install

only a very few programs can be configured with menus or scripts. In most cases, you must edit text configuration files yourself. It often happens that a misplaced period ruins the whole file, forcing you to restart the configuration process. Whenever you need to change your settings or reconfigure a program, the whole mess comes up again.

All this contributes to the fact that Linux and other UNIX's fail to reach a wider audience. At the same time, many people are not satisfied with their current operating system, mainly because of the lack of stability and performance found in those operating systems. Other people hate to buy a new computer each time a new version of the program they cannot live without comes out, because it needs more RAM and more disk space. Often the new version provides functions few people really need.

KDE is different. Although we do not try to replace the standard UNIX shell, we are working on a tool that will make using UNIX easier. We also want to attract more users to the UNIX environment. Simple things will be made easy and complex things will still be possible. Also, a single interface will be provided, instead of the dozens currently required.

# 2.1. What KDE Can Do For You

We designed KDE mainly for those new to UNIX, and others who wish to avoid the complicated process of learning new technologies and commands not found in their old operating systems. We also provide, however, something for experienced UNIX users.

- You are new to UNIX. Do not even try to use anything else, because you are exactly the sort of person for whom we wrote this software. `:-)` For you, we provide:

  - A good-looking, easy to use windowing environment

  - A powerful, easy to use file manager

  - A simple, centralized configuration

  - An online help that will support you in every situation

- You already have experience in UNIX. As an experienced UNIX user, you will welcome the new features KDE has to offer:

  - A good, handy, and fast window manager

  - A consistent interface for your applications. You will no longer need to guess if the right or the left mouse button does what you expect

  - A lean terminal emulator that does not fill up your memory when multiple windows are open simultaneously

  - A stylish desktop that makes your friends jealous